From pycyn@aol.com Sat Nov 11 13:26:01 2000 Return-Path: X-Sender: Pycyn@aol.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@egroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-6_2_1); 11 Nov 2000 21:26:01 -0000 Received: (qmail 20970 invoked from network); 11 Nov 2000 21:26:00 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by m3.onelist.org with QMQP; 11 Nov 2000 21:26:00 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO imo-r03.mail.aol.com) (152.163.225.3) by mta3 with SMTP; 11 Nov 2000 22:27:06 -0000 Received: from Pycyn@aol.com by imo-r03.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v28.32.) id a.79.bf940d2 (3981) for ; Sat, 11 Nov 2000 16:25:57 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <79.bf940d2.273f1364@aol.com> Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 16:25:56 EST Subject: Re: [lojban] [Slightly OT] Total Vocab Limits? To: lojban@egroups.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 111 From: pycyn@aol.com In a message dated 11/11/2000 3:09:00 AM EST, rlpowell@csclub.uwaterloo.ca writes: When one learns a second (or third, or nth) language, does the new vocabulary 'compete' with the old? In other words, does there seem to be a limit to the total number of words a (normal) person can learn in _all_ the languages they speak? -Robin >> Apparently not - I suspect there is a theoretical limit of some sort, but actual polyglots don't seem to be limited in any language they know (I don't know anyone who knows more than 11 as spoken languages, but they are accepted in all that I have been able to check as competent speakers. But most learn all their languages as children, for what that is worth.)